About The Anime Tea
The Anime Tea was born from a love of three things, anime, tea and storytelling! The Anime Tea is an online brand that introduces and explains various aspects of Anime to new, returning, and long-time Anime fans with an emphasis on storytelling through the medium. The best way to learn more about The Anime Tea’s content is on Youtube
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The Anime Tea’s Mission
“We help new, returning, and long-time Anime fans better understand the medium with a specific focus on storytelling and visual communication.”
The Anime Tea started as one girl’s love and obsession for Japanese Animation, most commonly known as Anime. The values of the brand are to provide information and insights to anime fans everywhere who want to learn more about the fandom and develop a deeper understanding and appreciation for the stories told through the medium.
Meet The Host
Phoenix Wilkins is the host and creator of The Anime Tea. She created the online brand as a way to share her love of Anime with others and connect with them. Join Phoenix each week as she discusses and dissects some of the most interesting aspects of Anime stories.
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About Phoenix Wilkins
Growing up I was what many would consider a nerd. Being nerdy in the early 2000’s wasn’t the greatest thing to be labeled back then because it usually had a bad connotation. It meant you were some kind of weirdo who sat in their dark, dusty room reading comic books and playing video games into the very late hours of the night, which is exactly what I did.
My nerd journey started like all kids in the early 2000’s, with Pokemon and Naruto. Pokemon I discovered was an anime many years after I initially started watching the show and playing the games. It wasn’t until getting into Naruto and finding out what Anime actually is that I learned the truth. And honestly, I felt a little betrayed once I found out. I collected many Pokemon video games on Nintendo DS and Gameboy, and had a binder full of Pokemon trading cards from my brother all the while never realizing they came from a country very far away from my own. After I did though I went down the rabbit hole of every anime I could find. Starting off with watching all the classics on Toonami of course, like Bleach and Inuyasha and Cowboy Bebop. Then discovering the very early days of streaming services like Crunchyroll and Hulu to continue my anime fix.
Fast forward past all of the awkward teenage phase of highschool and into the real world. I eloped with my highschool sweetheart, who had recently joined the military, and followed him to the place of my wildest anime-loving dreams, the birthplace of Anime, Japan. There I learned more about the real culture and history of Japan and the people there. Things that Anime distorted in a way and some things that felt very accurate. But most importantly I witnessed the inspiration behind many of my favorite anime and manga right before my eyes. I saw cherry blossoms blooming in spring for the first time and saw them disappear in a matter of weeks. I breathed the fresh air of the Japanese countryside and I meandered around the brightly illuminated streets of Akihabara, Tokyo. I understood why artists and writers created their animated masterpieces, in order to recapture the feeling and the natural beauty that exists in Japan.
If you can’t tell by now I’m a romantic and a writer so I love to exaggerate but I truly believe that those three years I lived in Japan were some of the most captivating and eye-opening experiences of my life.
Funny thing is I didn’t watch much anime while I lived there. It wasn’t much into anime. It took a lot out of me to adjust from being away from home and being a wife all while living in a foreign country that I only ever thought I’d visit for a few days let alone live in for several years.
It wasn’t until we left Japan and returned home that my love for anime rekindled and that I also realized how lonely I often felt. I had my family and husband who I love to pieces but couldn’t care less about my “Japanese cartoons”. I craved talking to people about the medium, how shows made me feel, how character deaths brought me to tears and how I always felt empty when a show I loved came to an end. But I had no one to share it with. So that’s when I decided to create something online to connect me with other anime loving people.
It started with a podcast that, to my own surprise, I kept running for well over a year and a half. While marketing the podcast on social media I stumbled upon a community full of people who loved talking about anime. It was literally all my 8 year-old self could dream of. A place to feel accepted and be open about the things that we love. Not to say that the anime fandom, especially online, is all rainbows and butterflies because it definitely has a dark side. But just the ease of finding other people who loved the same stories and characters I did really made me feel less alone. And to think it was so easy!
From creating The Anime Tea, I’ve gone to a con for the first time. I met a friend who I can honestly say is one the closest friends I have in my life. Talking about anime online became life changing. One day I decided to take it a step further and start a Youtube channel. I loved my podcast but it missed a human element. I wanted to show people who I was and I wanted to inspire other people to realize that they’re not alone in their fandom. And so I put the podcast on the backburner and went full on with Youtube.
I’m so happy that today, the things that make us nerdy are the things that have now become a really important tool in connecting with each other. Which worked out for me because I already had experience in being nerdy, but I wanted to connect with other people who loved the same things as me and now I’m able to. I can’t wait to see how the brand evolves and changes from now on.
If you want to join me as I awkwardly question and talk about all the stories and lessons anime can teach us then make sure watch The Anime Tea on Youtube!